woom bike

Just in time for the start of school we’ve moved back to the Netherlands. I wanted my girls to go to school in my home country instead of having to deal with the German education system.
This really is a bike country and as Alice has outgrown the Little Big Bike it was time to move on to a real big bike.

Finding the perfect bike

I always read (or ask) other parents recommendations and found there are a few brands quite popular in Europe (or Germany in specific).
Our local bike shop only has mountainbikes, which I feel like Alice doesn’t need right now. So I started to check out shops and brands online.

A big problem with most models is the weight. Alice is ‘petite’ and handling a bike that weighs 8.5kg (like the mountain bike we’ve seen) is much harder than handling a bike weighing less than 6kg. I even came accross bikes that weigh over 10kg!

woom

Woom is a brand started by parents who weren’t satisfied with existing children’s bikes and were hoping to make the best product for their kids.
You can just notice they’ve put a lot of work in to the design. Every detail matters. And together all those details convinced me this would be a good choice for Alice.

The bike has a small rubber ring between the fork and frame, which limits the steering. Less risk for a child to make a (extremely) sharp turn and fall over.

The bike only has hand brakes, which have a colour indication to differentiate front and rear brake.
I feel like having no coaster break (a break when you paddle backwards) helps to avoid accidental breaking, especially when the child is practicing how to start and ride off alone.

The woom bike comes with a bell and kickstand, we’ve also picked a woom helmet (which sadly doesn’t come in a matching colour to her bike).
Alice wanted a purple bike (who would have guessed?), but there’s red, blue and green too.

The bike arrives nearly completely assembled, assembling the final parts is easy (and quick). Alice has the woom 3 which fits from 4-6 years of age (on average). If a child outgrows the woom there’s an upcycling program which you can join for a (one time) fee. You can return your 2 year old used bike and get a refund for 40% of the original price. For us this wouldn’t be interesting as I hope Emile will be the next child to ride this bike 🙂 but I still loved the idea!

We don’t ride the bike to school daily, but hoping to do so when there’s less rain.
The girls ride their bike in the backyard when they play outside, or make their rounds around the parking lot.